The antimalarial agent hydroxychloroquine doesn’t appear to lower the risk of preeclampsia during pregnancy in women with lupus, a study reports. The study, “Hydroxychloroquine in lupus pregnancy and risk of preeclampsia,” was published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication marked by high…
Modified anti-inflammatory T-regulatory immune cells, known as Tregs, were able to suppress autoimmune activity in cells and in a mouse model of lupus nephritis, a common complication of lupus marked by kidney inflammation, a new study reports. These findings support the development of a Treg-based treatment that uses a…
DNA-bound proteins released from traps cast by neutrophils, a type of immune cell, may help predict which lupus nephritis patients are most likely to respond to treatment two years after a renal (kidney) flare, a study indicates. Those with higher levels of Elastase-DNA and HMGB1-DNA were…
Scientist Akiko Iwasaki will receive the Dr. William E. Paul Distinguished Innovator Award (DIA) to investigate whether ancient viral DNA in our cells is a potential trigger for lupus. The $1 million award from the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) will fund a four-year research project to investigate whether the…
People with lupus nephritis who are in clinical remission, with no symptoms for at least one year, are 82% less likely to experience impaired kidney function than those who do not remain in remission, a study has found. Moreover, longer sustained remission increases the odds of patients staying in remission…
Scientists have identified a number of proteins in the urine with high diagnostic accuracy for identifying kidney involvement in people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Such biomarkers may enable the earlier identification of lupus nephritis, a serious manifestation of SLE that can cause kidney failure, thus allowing for faster interventions…
MyLupus, a new mobile phone app that’s meant to be used between doctor visits, was designed to help people with moderate to severe lupus make more-educated healthcare decisions. The free application was developed by a team of scientists — including rheumatologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)…
When the protein TLR7, or toll-like receptor 7 — which normally triggers an immune response against viruses and bacteria — instead builds up in immune cells, the immune system may turn against its own body and cause systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a study has found. The study, “Disrupted…
Scientists have created small molecules that can block the activity of SLC15A4, an inflammatory protein — long considered undruggable — that’s known to play a central role in driving lupus and other autoimmune diseases. Further, the team showed that these molecules could reduce inflammation in lupus patient cells and…
China’s regulatory body has given Gracell Biotechnologies the green light to launch a Phase 1/2 clinical trial testing GC012F, an experimental dual-targeting CAR T-cell therapy, in people with difficult-to-treat systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The decision by China’s National Medical Products Administration comes shortly after the U.S. Food and…